Ironing out agreements about how we move forward

Second week into the new session and we are into the tough job of working over bills in committee and subcommittee. Things will start to pick up when we have established some basic agreements on the issues contained in the new bills. It’s not my favorite part of the process but you didn’t send me here to have playtime.

One of our first hearings at Ways and Means Committee was a presentation by Catherine Templeton, Director of S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC). Despite having only been at her current job for less than a year, she has made quite a mark. Usually when we hear from department heads, it is to hear their best case for why they should have more money. Director Templeton, by contrast, asks for less money and more discretion to do what she wants with those dollars. In fact, she has cut a great deal of the administrative side of DHEC, taking those dollars and putting more boots on the ground where the important work gets done. She has saved the taxpayers some money and pushed her agency to be more productive. Frankly, I am a fan.

My good friend, Carolyn Bolton Kelly, of the DHEC-Ocean and Coastal Resource Management (OCRM) in Charleston, that handles the Beaufort area, is also doing a remarkable job, and these two strong, smart women seem to team up pretty well. Both Templeton and Kelly have embraced the ethos of better service with more front-line workers overseen by many fewer but more efficient managers. They and others cast in the same mold are the future of this state. By and large, we have excellent state employees who function at a high level without layers of redundant oversight. Friends, we’ve all been on government job sites where three fellows in suits are watching one fellow with a shovel. Those days are over.

I did have couple of good visits this week. Beaufort County Council Vice-Chairman Stu Rodman and a good group of our realtor friends came in. We were joined by Rep. Weston Newton and Rep. Andy Patrick, in what was unfortunately a small conference room. We talked about the inequity in the school funding, especially as to how this falls disproportionately on the folks who are assessed at six percent, which includes part-time residents, owners of rental property and certain business properties. This seems particularly galling as not many of those property owners have children in the public schools. All agreed the issue was complex and needed a creative solution, but a workable compromise did not come out of the meeting, although everyone had an opportunity to say their piece.

The next day, vice-chairman Rodman was back. This time he was accompanied by my friend Councilman Jerry Stewart and newly seated Councilwoman Cynthia Bensch. The topic was much the same as the day before and not a lot of progress was made. However, it struck me that these meetings were exactly how the system is supposed to work. Even though we didn’t come up with a solution, all the parties helped to define the work that needed doing, and the concerns of the taxpayers were transmitted up the political food chain to the folks who will ultimately address them.

As these things sometimes happen, there are two cases before the S.C. Supreme Court that may break this impasse. One concerns the fairness of state education funding and the other could rearrange state finances by doing away with some or all state sales tax exemptions. In a certain scenario, it might be necessary to fundamentally overhaul our revenue and education funding regimes. This legislator would welcome that opportunity.

Bill Herbkersman, R-Bluffton, represents District 118 in the South Carolina House of Representatives. He can be reached through his website at www.herbkersman.com or by telephone at 757-7900.